Actual: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Danny Elfman, Milk; Thomas Newman, WALL-E; A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire; James Newton Howard, Defiance.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Predicted: Miley Cyrus – “I Thought I Lost You,” Bolt; Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Michael Stevens and Kyle Eastwood – “Gran Torino,” Gran Torino; A.R. Rahman and Gulzar – “Jai Ho,” Slumdog Millionaire; Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman – “Down to Earth,” WALL-E; Bruce Springsteen – “The Wrestler,” The Wrestler.
Actual: A.R. Rahman and Gulzar – “Jai Ho,” Slumdog Millionaire; A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam – “O Saya,” Slumdog Millionaire; Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman – “Down to Earth,” WALL-E.
The Academy only chose three nominees this year and two of them went to Slumdog Millionaire. The third went deservedly to WALL-E for the song, “Down to Earth” but I wonder why they decided to shut out Bruce Springsteen’s title song, “The Wrestler” and Clint Eastwood et al’s “Gran Torino” though, as both songs were rather crucial to the final effect of the respective movies. Well, maybe they only chose three this time around so as to lower the chance of Miley Cyrus would sneak in.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Predicted: Australia; Changeling; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road.
Actual: Australia; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Duchess; Milk; Revolutionary Road.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Predicted: Changeling; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road.
Actual: Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road.
BEST MAKEUP
Predicted: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Hellboy II: The Golden Army; The Reader.
Actual: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
BEST SOUND MIXING
Predicted: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Iron Man; Slumdog Millionaire; WALL-E.
Actual: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Slumdog Millionaire; WALL-E; Wanted.
BEST SOUND EDITING
Predicted: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Iron Man; Quantum of Solace; WALL-E.
Actual: The Dark Knight; Iron Man; Slumdog Millionaire; WALL-E; Wanted.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Predicted: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Iron Man.
Actual: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Iron Man.
NOMINEES IN CATEGORIES I DIDN'T PREDICT
Best Foreign Language Film: The Baader-Meinhof Complex; The Class; Departures; Revanche; Waltz with Bashir.
Best Documentary, Features: The Betrayal – Nerakhoon; Encounters at the End of the World; The Garden; Man on Wire; Trouble the Water.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Good, thorough write-up.
I don't see why Slumdog is a likely front runner. It was made outside of Hollywood. If you take into consideration the voting body and some of the aspects you mention, The Reader has much more going for it, and I would put CCoBB ahead as well. The Oscars are not much different from high school and the voters are going to pick friends over strangers. Milk was good but certainly not Top Five of the year.
"at least the Academy did not make the same silly mistake that the Golden Globes and SAG did."
The organizations do not decide what category an actor gets nominated in. That's determined by the producers who submit them.
"I wonder if she will make a reference to that in her speech if she wins."
Considering Gervais already did this at the Golden Globes, I doubt it.
"this category would have been even stronger with the inclusion of Waltz with Bashir"
It's not that it sufficed, but then it couldn't have competed in the Best Foreign Language category. It's a silly rule, but it is what it is.
I would be curious about why the Song was limited to three. People would tune in for Miley and Bruce.
2 - El Bicho
According to AP, "An academy spokeswoman says songs need to earn a score of at least 8 and a-quarter out of ten to be nominated and the songs by Cyrus and Springsteen scored less than that."
Ouch.
3 - Robert M. Barga
your entire post is simply a fanboy of dark night
it was a good movie, and Heath was a good actor. The only thing it was worthy of is best supporting actor (heath) but he is dead, so he doesn't really deserve it
4 - John
Hmm, I would be careful with the wording of "but he is dead, so he doesn't really deserve it." Could be open to misconstruing.
5 - El Bicho
"he is dead, so he doesn't really deserve it"
All else can you take it other than uninformed? Did Peter Finch not deserve his Oscar? Should they disqualify The Reader sine two of the producers have died? How exactly does someone 'deserve' an Oscar?